N. Korea bashes Pelosi over visit to the Korean Demilitarized Zone
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Pyongyang condemns to the US House Speaker's provocative actions in South Korea, stresses that the "US is just adding fuel to the fire."
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US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Archive)
North Korea condemned US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday for her recent visit to the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, branding her the "worst destroyer of international peace."
Pelosi, who traveled to Taiwan earlier this week, became the highest-ranking US official to visit the Joint Security Area (JSA) between the two Koreas since then-President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un there in 2019.
Prior to the JSA visit, Pelosi met with her South Korean counterpart, National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, to discuss the "grave situation" and growing threat posed by the North's nuclear weapons program.
The two leaders called for "strong and extended deterrence against North Korea" and pledged to support Washington and Seoul's efforts to achieve Pyongyang's denuclearization.
The North condemned Pelosi for her discussions with Kim as well as her visit to the JSA.
An official at North Korea's foreign ministry, Jo Yong Sam, said that Pelosi "made her appearance even in the joint security area of Panmunjom, utterly betraying the vision of the hostile policy of the current US administration towards the DPRK."
"The US is just adding fuel to the fire," Jo added in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.
It is worth noting that the JSA is the only location along the tense 250-kilometer border where soldiers from North Korea and the US-led United Nations Command face each other.
Pyongyang also chastised Pelosi for her visit.
"Pelosi, the worst destroyer of international peace and stability... incurred the wrath of the Chinese people for her recent junket to Taiwan," the foreign ministry's Jo said in the statement.
"The US will have to pay dearly for all the sources of trouble spawned by her wherever she went, “he added.
It is worth noting that China sanctioned Pelosi Friday over a trip to Taiwan, stressing that the visit was an ‘egregious provocation’.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan on Wednesday following a visit that heightened tensions with China, saying she and other members of Congress in her delegation demonstrated their devotion to Taiwan.
Pelosi, the first US speaker to visit the island in more than 25 years, incurred Beijing's wrath and sparked a week-long debate over whether the visit was a wise idea once word of it leaked.
